The ongoing impact of quantum physics on 20th-Century thought are probably not fully apparent. Decades after its inception, this model of reality suggests to many people the possibility of closing the gap between science and spirituality. And there are real risks here. A difficult theory, wrapped in the mantle of scientific legitimacy, gives rise to all manner of abused New Age rhetoric. Wolf’s intuitive integration of soul-talk and quantumspeak falls just barely in the “acceptable” zone on my Crap-o-Meter. I say this to his credit. He does seem knowledgeable in the science he uses, unlike some adherants of ‘quantum spirituality’. His text is coherent and detailed, and draws nicely upon the wisdom of many spiritual traditions. My primary criticism, perhaps, is that it is written for an already-sympathetic audience, an audience which assumes a priori the existence of a soul. Far from being a ‘proof’ as the subtitle suggests, The Spiritual Universe merely shows one way in which physical and spiritual models of the world can be made compatible. [New York: Simon & Schuster]
